War and Peas Read Free Page B

valuable antiques or expensive replicas, many reenactors aren’t feeling especially cooperative. It’s a mess.“
    “Can you tell if she was shot up close or at a distance?“ Jane asked.
    “That’ll be for the coroner’s office to determine, but there weren’t any visible powder burns.“
    “At least you’re not in charge,“ Jane said with an attempt to cheer him up.
    “Jane, I’m out in the middle of nowhere on what is probably the hottest day of the year, if not the hottest day in recorded history, and I’m trying to be authoritative and official while wearing shorts and a silly green T-shirt that says, ‘The Best Pea-Pickin’ Festival in the World.’ Not being ‘in charge’ isn’t much comfort.“
    “But you’ve got great legs,“ Jane said, unimpressed by his complaints.
    He glared at her for a minute, then laughed. “I do, don’t I?”

Three

    Jane and Shelley went to the Snellen booth, where a couple of museum volunteers wearing pea-green T-shirts were anxious to be relieved. They were also desperately eager to know what all the sirens and police were about, but Shelley and Jane pleaded ignorance.
    The booth not only was shaded, it had aluminum lawn chairs and, more important, a big floor fan humming along under the counter that made everything almost pleasant. Shelley set to work sorting out and stacking up the brochures, which were randomly spread all over the counter. Jane tidied up the sale items—little enamel pea-pod lapel pins and matching earrings, peashooters, jump ropes that were a string of green plastic peas with pod handles, and ceramic dishes with ceramic peas and carrots. There were necklaces made of dried, shellacked peas that were actually rather pretty, and a Chinese checkers game with brightly painted peas for players that wasn’t pretty at all. And there were a great many of the green Pea Pickin’ T-shirts like the ones Jane had unwisely persuaded Mel to wear.
    “Did you know this Palmer woman?“ Jane asked Shelley as they finished their work and sat down to wait for customers.
    “Not well. We’d met when I started working as a volunteer at the museum, and I’d seen her around. Probably hadn’t exchanged more than a hundred words with her.“
    “Did she strike you as the type of person somebody would want to kill?“
    “You think it was deliberate?“ Shelley asked. “Surely it was just an accident.“
    “I don’t see quite how it could be. Like Mel said, everybody had guns out there, but none of them were supposed to have real bullets. I don’t know anything about guns, but I wouldn’t think anybody who knew about them could mistake a blank for a bullet.“
    “I think you can get killed with blanks, too,“ Shelley said. “Maybe that’s what happened. And to answer your question, no. She seemed like a very nice, bland person. In fact, my impression was that she was one of those earnest, boring individuals who use all their energy to do their job very well and have nothing left to form a personality.“
    “So she was really good at being a museum director? What does that entail?“
    “I’ve no idea,“ Shelley said. “Administrative stuff, I guess. But everybody at the museum deferred to her with what seemed like real respect. I know she managed to bag a couple of traveling exhibits that were a big deal in museum circles.
    Well, in little pea-museum circles, at any rate. And she was in charge of getting the new building and organizing the move. Which is why I dragged you in, Jane.“
    “We’re moving things next week? But, Shelley, there’s nowhere to move to. The ground-breaking for the new building is tomorrow. Or it was supposed to be.“
    “Jane, the museum’s been in the same building since 1907. The basement alone is stacked with ninety years’ worth of—stuff. People give their old junk to museums and it piles up. It all has to be cataloged and evaluated and packed up for the move when the building is ready. It’s months and months of